Ambient and Electronic

After Hip-Hop/Rap, I probably spend the most time listening to Ambient and Electronic music, mostly of European origin. Hopefully I can plug a couple of my favorites, and my open minded readers might be able to enjoy something new.

1. Boards Of Canada
BOC is a Scottish Duo who's music is reminiscent of the warm analog sound of Moog orchestrated soundtracks from the 1970's that were prevalent in many forms of media at the time. Their music contains themes of childhood, nostalgia, and the natural world. When I listen to their songs, they really do evoke a nostalgic and introspective feeling. A lot of times I listen to their music when im working on math homework or while I'm walking to class. Here are two of their greatest songs in my opinion; Music Is Math and Olson version 3.



2. Aphex Twin
Started listening to Aphex Twin in 7th grade. The mastermind behind Aphex Twin, Richard D. James is completely eccentric, by all senses of the word. He is currently the reigning king of the British Ambient/Electronic scene. I must confess I prefer his softer less percussive stuff off of Slected Ambient Works 85-92 and Selected Ambient Works II




3. Vangelis
Vangelis is a Greek Electronic Composer, famous for doing many movie soundtracks. He did the soundtrack for the 1982 Sci-Fi movie, Bladerunner, Starring Harrison Ford. one of the most introspective Ambient tunes of all time in my opinion was on this soundtrack. Here is Bladerunner Blues:

4. Brian Eno
Brian Eno is an english composer who is essentially considered to be the father and chief innovator of the Ambient genre. He's composed many movie soundtracks, worked with U2, Paul Simon, and many others. In 1978 he released Ambient 1-Music for Airports and since then he's released 3 other volumes. I associate his music with Winter and Autumn, and consequently that's when I listen to his music the most.

For my readers who might be interested in Electronic but need something more pop oriented I suggest checking out the NYC group MGMT, who's album Oracular Spectacular is an absolute must hear. Also, a no brainer here, the Gorillaz, They recently released Plastic Beach with collaborations from De La Soul, Mos Def, and Bobby Womack.

Peace,
Anon